In this publication, using in vitro and in vivo approaches, we described and characterized a monoclonal antibody (mAb) that binds to the voltage sensor of the sodium channel subtype Nav1.7 and inhibits channel function. A follow-up study by Liu et al. reported that a similar but distinct recombinant mAb targeting Nav1.7 did not show significant in vitro activities (Liu et al., 2016, F1000 Res. 5, 2764, https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.9918.1), which prompted us to re-examine our previous results. In the process, we found irregularities in some of the raw data used for the published in vitro results, and we notified our institution, Duke University, about the irregularities. The institution subsequently appointed an ad hoc committee that concluded that the first author, Jun-Ho Lee, fabricated and/or falsified the results in Figures 3A, 3C, 3D, and 4. While subsequent work has both clarified the distinct in vitro activities of the two antibodies and confirmed the in vivo activity of our antibody (Bang et al., 2018, Neurosci. Bull. 34, 22–41, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12264-018-0203-0), we feel that the responsible course of action is to retract our paper because it contains falsified data. We sincerely apologize to the scientific community for the inconvenience and confusion that we have caused.
The first author, Jun-Ho Lee, did not respond to the request to sign this retraction.